Gravitational wave astrophysics,data analysis and multimessenger astronomy

This paper reviews gravitational wave sources and their detection. One of the most exciting potential sources of gravitational waves are coalescing binary black hole systems. They can occur on all mass scales and be formed in numerous ways, many of which are not understood. They are generally invisible in electromagnetic waves, and they provide opportunities for deep investigation of Einstein's general theory of relativity. Sect. 1 of this paper considers ways that binary black holes can be created in the universe, and includes the prediction that binary black hole coalescence events are likely to be the first gravitational wave sources to be detected. The next parts of this paper address the detection of chirp waveforms from coalescence events in noisy data.Such analysis is computationally intensive. Sect. 2 reviews a new and powerful method of signal detection based on the GPUimplemented summed parallel infinite impulse response filters. Such filters are intrinsically real time alorithms, that can be used to rapidly detect and localise signals. Sect. 3 of the paper reviews the use of GPU processors for rapid searching for gravitational wave bursts that can arise from black hole births and coalescences. In sect. 4 the use of GPU processors to enable fast efficient statistical significance testing of gravitational wave event candidates is reviewed. Sect. 5 of this paper addresses the method of multimessenger astronomy where the discovery of electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave events can be used to identify sources, understand their nature and obtain much greater science outcomes from each identified event.     

Towers of gravitational theories

In this essay we introduce a theoretical framework designed to describe black hole dynamics. The difficulties in understanding such dynamics stems from the proliferation of scales involved when one attempts to simultaneously describe all of the relevant dynamical degrees of freedom. These range from the modes that describe the black hole horizon, which are responsible for dissipative effects, to the long wavelength gravitational radiation that drains mechanical energy from macroscopic black hole bound states. We approach the problem from a Wilsonian point of view, by building a tower of theories of gravity each of which is valid at different scales. The methodology leads to multiple new results in diverse topics including phase transitions of Kaluza-Klein black holes and the interactions of spinning black hole in non-relativistic orbits. Moreover, our methods tie together speculative ideas regarding dualities for black hole horizons to real physical measurements in gravitational wave detectors.     

Numerical modeling of black holes as sources of gravitational waves in a nutshell

These notes summarize basic concepts underlying numerical relativity and in particular the numerical modeling of black hole dynamics as a source of gravitational waves. Main topics are the 3+1 decomposition of general relativity, the concept of a well-posed initial value problem, the construction of initial data for general relativity, trapped surfaces and gravitational waves. Also, a brief summary is given of recent progress regarding the numerical evolution of black hole binary systems.     

An interpretation for the entropy of a black hole

We investigate the meaning of the entropy carried away by Hawking radiations from a black hole. We propose that the entropy for a black hole measures the uncertainty of the information about the black hole forming matter’s precollapsed configurations, self-collapsed configurations, and inter-collapsed configurations. We find that gravitational wave or gravitational radiation alone cannot carry all information about the processes of black hole coalescence and collapse, while the total information locked in the hole could be carried away completely by Hawking radiation as tunneling.     

Chaotic shadows of black holes: a short review

We give a brief review on the formation and the calculation of black hole shadows. Firstly, we introduce the concept of a black hole shadow and the current works on a variety of black hole shadows. Secondly, we present the main methods of calculating photon sphere radius and shadow radius, and then explain how the photon sphere affects the boundary of black hole shadows. We review the analytical calculation for black hole shadows which have analytic expressions for shadow boundary due to the integrable photon motion system. And we introduce the fundamental photon orbits which can explain the patterns of black hole shadow shape. Finally, we review the numerical calculation of black hole shadows with the backward ray-tracing method and introduce some chaotic black hole shadows with self-similar fractal structures. Since the gravitational waves from the merger of binary black holes have been detected, we introduce a couple of shadows of binary black holes, which all have eyebrowlike shadows around the main shadows with the fractal structures. We discuss the invariant phase space structures of the photon motion system in black hole space-time, and explain the formation of black hole shadow is dominated by the invariant manifolds of certain Lyapunov orbits near the fixed points.     

On gravitational shock waves in curved spacetimes

Some years ago Dray and 't Hooft found the necessary and sufficient conditions to introduce a gravitational shock wave in a particular class of vacuum solutions to Einstein's equations. We extend this work to cover cases where non-vanishing matter fields and a cosmological constant are present. The sources of gravitational waves are massless particles moving along a null surface such as a horizon in the case of black holes. After we discuss the general case we give many explicit examples. Among them are the d-dimensional charged black hole (that includes the 4-dimensional Reissner-Nordström and the d-dimensional Schwarzschild solution as subcases), the 4-dimensional De Sitter and anti-De Sitter spaces (and the Schwarzschild-De Sitter black hole), the 3-dimensional anti-De Sitter black hole, as well as backgrounds with a covariantly constant null Killing vector. We also address the analogous problem for string-inspired gravitational solutions nd give a few examples.     

How black holes form in high energy collisions

Abstract We elucidate how black holes form in trans-Planckian collisions. In the rest frame of one of the incident particles, the gravitational field of the other, which is rapidly moving, looks like a gravitational shock wave. The shock wave focuses the target particle down to a much smaller impact parameter. In turn, the gravitational field of the target particle captures the projectile when the resultant impact parameter is smaller than its own Schwarzschild radius, forming a black hole. One can deduce this by referring to the original argument of escape velocities exceeding the speed of light, which Michell and Laplace used to discover the existence of black holes. Second Award in the 2007 Essay Competition of the Gravity Research Foundation.     

Pulsation of black holes

The Hawking–Penrose singularity theorem states that a singularity forms inside a black hole in general relativity. To remove this singularity one must resort to a more fundamental theory. Using a corrected dynamical equation arising in loop quantum cosmology and braneworld models, we study the gravitational collapse of a perfect fluid sphere with a rather general equation of state. In the frame of an observer comoving with this fluid, the sphere pulsates between a maximum and a minimum size, avoiding the singularity. The exterior geometry is also constructed. There are usually an outer and an inner apparent horizon, resembling the Reissner–Nordström situation. For a distant observer the horizon crossing occurs in an infinite time and the pulsations of the black hole quantum “beating heart” are completely unobservable. However, it may be observable if the black hole is not spherical symmetric and radiates gravitational wave due to the quadrupole moment, if any.     

Pair production by gravitational waves in the field of a black hole

We consider the production of scalar particles by a gravitational wave incident on the static gravitational field of a Schwarzschild mini black hole.     

Scattering of particles by deformed non-rotating black holes

We study the excitation of axial quasi-normal modes of deformed non-rotating black holes by test particles and we compare the associated gravitational wave signal with that expected in general relativity from a Schwarzschild black hole. Deviations from standard predictions are quantified by an effective deformation parameter, which takes into account deviations from both the Schwarzschild metric and the Einstein equations. We show that, at least in the case of non-rotating black holes, it is possible to test the metric around the compact object, in the sense that the measurement of the gravitational wave spectrum can constrain possible deviations from the Schwarzschild solution.     

Are There Thermodynamical Degrees of Freedom of Gravitation?

In discussing fundamentals of general-relativistic irreversible continuum thermodynamics, this theory is shown to be characterized by the feature that no thermodynamical degrees of freedom are ascribed to gravitation. However, accepting that black hole thermodynamics seems to oppose this harmlessness of gravitation one is called on to consider other approaches. Therefore, in brief some gravitational and thermodynamical alternatives are reviewed.     

Extreme gravity tests with gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences: (II) ringdown

The LIGO/Virgo detections of binary black hole mergers marked a watershed moment in astronomy, ushering in the era of precision tests of Kerr dynamics. We review theoretical and experimental challenges that must be overcome to carry out black hole spectroscopy with present and future gravitational wave detectors. Among other topics, we discuss quasinormal mode excitation in binary mergers, astrophysical event rates, tests of black hole dynamics in modified theories of gravity, parameterized “post-Kerr” ringdown tests, exotic compact objects, and proposed data analysis methods to improve spectroscopic tests of Kerr dynamics by stacking multiple events.     

Dirac equation of spin particles and tunneling radiation from a Kinnersly black hole

In curved space-time, the Hamilton–Jacobi equation is a semi-classical particle equation of motion, which plays an important role in the research of black hole physics. In this paper, starting from the Dirac equation of spin 1/2 fermions and the Rarita–Schwinger equation of spin 3/2 fermions, respectively, we derive a Hamilton–Jacobi equation for the non-stationary spherically symmetric gravitational field background. Furthermore, the quantum tunneling of a charged spherically symmetric Kinnersly black hole is investigated by using the Hamilton–Jacobi equation. The result shows that the Hamilton–Jacobi equation is helpful to understand the thermodynamic properties and the radiation characteristics of a black hole.     

Probing strange stars and color superconductivity by r-mode instabilities in millisecond pulsars

An astrophysically realistic model of wave dynamics in black-hole spacetimes must involve a nonspherical background geometry with angular momentum. We consider the evolution of gravitational (and electromagnetic) perturbations in rotating Kerr spacetimes. We show that a rotating Kerr black hole becomes "bald" slower than the corresponding spherically symmetric Schwarzschild black hole. Moreover, our results turn over the traditional belief (which has been widely accepted during the last three decades) that the late-time tail of gravitational collapse is universal. Our results are also of importance both to the study of the no-hair conjecture and the mass-inflation scenario (stability of Cauchy horizons).     

The thermodynamics of a system containing two black holes and black-body radiation

The problem of two black holes in a box separated by a partition is considered. Each black hole is in thermal equilibrium with its appropriate black-body radiation. The separating partition is removed and the possible final states of the combined system are investigated. Limits on the amount of gravitational wave energy that can be produced are calculated.     

Robinson-Trautman equations and Chandrasekhar's special perturbation of the Schwarzschild metric

A perturbation wave solution of the Robinson-Trautman equations is proved to be a perturbation of the Schwarzschild black hole which describes an outgoing axial gravitational wave and corresponds to a special case of Chandrasekhar's algebraically special perturbation of the Schwarzschild metric.     

动态球对称Einstein-Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons黑洞的霍金辐射

用Hamilton-Jacobi方法研究了动态球对称Einstein-Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons 黑洞事件视界处的隧穿辐射特征及其黑洞事件视界处的温度. 其结果表明,黑洞温度及隧穿率与黑洞的固有性质及其动态特征有关. 这对于进一步研究动态黑洞的热力学性质及其相关问题是有意义的. 其方法的重要意义在于研究这类动态黑洞的霍金辐射时, 不仅适用于标量场隧穿辐射的情形, 同时也适用于研究旋量场、矢量场以及引力波的隧穿辐射. 关键词： Einstein-Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons黑洞 霍金隧穿辐射 Hamilton-Jacobi方程     

Analytic solutions in the dyon black hole with a cosmic string: Scalar fields,Hawking radiation and energy flux

Charged massive scalar fields are considered in the gravitational and electromagnetic field produced by a dyonic black hole with a cosmic string along its axis of symmetry. Exact solutions of both angular and radial parts of the covariant Klein–Gordon equation in this background are obtained, and are given in terms of the confluent Heun functions. The role of the presence of the cosmic string in these solutions is showed up. From the radial solution, we obtain the exact wave solutions near the exterior horizon of the black hole, and discuss the Hawking radiation spectrum and the energy flux.     

Gravitational-wave extraction from an inspiraling configuration of merging black holes

We present new ideas for evolving black holes through a computational grid without excision, which enable accurate and stable evolutions of binary black hole systems with the accurate determination of gravitational waveforms directly from the wave zone region. Rather than excising the black hole interiors, our approach follows the "puncture" treatment of black holes, but utilizing a new gauge condition which allows the black holes to move successfully through the computational domain. We apply these techniques to an inspiraling binary, modeling the radiation generated during the final plunge and ringdown. We demonstrate convergence of the waveforms and good conservation of mass-energy, with just over 3% of the system's mass converted to gravitational radiation.